Google Rolls Back Sneaky Drive File Limit After User Outrage And Backlash

Google has thankfully decided to renege on a recently (and quietly) enforced Google Drive limit that prevents users from creating more than 5 million files in Drive. This change comes after heavy backlash from its userbase, not just for the limitation itself, but over the lack of communication behind it. 

Last week, Google surprised a few Drive users when they found out that they were barred from creating new files to Drive because they had met a sneaky quota of 5 million files on Drive. Among others, a Reddit post reported that even though a user who had 7 million files and had not hit their 2TB storage limit (1.62TB actual), Google flashed a notification saying "This account has exceeded the creation limit of 5 million items. To create more items, move items to the bin and delete them forever", and thus prevented them from creating new files. It was initially thought that this was a bug, especially if you refer to Google's issue tracker page on the matter.

The Reddit post states that with an average file size of 400kb, users will hit the 5 million file cap before they run out of storage space. At this point, the only solution would be to delete, export, or compress any extra files. Obviously, this policy change quickly chuffed a growing number of users, not only regarding this weird file limit, but also due to the lack of communication from Google in the first place.

We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance. While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.

— Google Drive (@googledrive) April 4, 2023

Initially, Google's spokesperson Ross Richendrfer said that this file creation limit was done to maintain stability and optimize performance, while helping to prevent misuse of the system. But yesterday, the Google Drive team announced that they are rolling back the file cap, reiterating that even though 5 million file cap was for our own good, "to preserve stability and optimize performance," they are lifting that limit while exploring alternate approaches. Let's just hope they don't pull a surprise on us next time.